BASIC DETAILS
Consultation title:
Ofcom’s strategy and priorities for the promotion of
media
literacy
To (Ofcom contact):
Robin Blake, Senior Policy Executive Media Literacy
Name of respondent:
The Media Literacy Task Force
Representing (self or organisation/s):
UK Film Council, The British Film
Institute, Channel 4 and the BBC
Address (if not received by email):
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confidential parts, a general summary that does not disclose the specific information or
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DECLARATION
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consultation response. It can be published in full on Ofcom’s website, unless otherwise
specified on this cover sheet, and all intellectual property rights in the response vest
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Signed (if hard copy)
Ofcom’s strategy and priorities
for
the promotion of media literacy
Consultation Document
Response from the Media Literacy Task
Force:
Channel 4, UK Film Council, British Film Institute, BBC
August 2004
Response From The Media Literacy Task Force
Contents
Section
Page
1
Executive Summary
2
2
Introduction
3
3
Reviewing existing Media Literacy Research
5
4
Commissioning Research on Media Literacy
6
5
Scope of the Research
6
6
Further Research Topics
7
7
Recommendations and Next Steps
8
Annex
Summaries of recent and on-going Research
9
1.
Executive Summary
2
1.1 The Media Literacy Task Force’s response to Ofcom’s strategy and
priorities for the promotion of media literacy is primarily concerned
with the research aspects of the consultation document (Section 2.4
– 2.6).
1.2 Our response recommends strongly that research should be based
on the broader definition of media literacy that the Task Force
outlined in its Statement used as the basis for discussion at its
Seminar, Inform & Empower: Media Literacy in the 21st Century
(Section 2.3).
1.3 This response is structured around a number of inter-related steps,
starting with the need for Ofcom to develop a working definition of
media literacy that carries broad stakeholder support and can be
utilised in research (Section 2.7 – 2.10).
1.4 The next step involves the need for Ofcom to commission a review of
current research in the field in order to identify gaps in current
knowledge (Section 3). This review needs to assess research activity
against the broader working definition of media literacy discussed in
Section 2.7 – 2.10.
1.5 Having established a firm understanding of the research to date, it is
the Task Force’s view that Ofcom should draw up a brief for research
to address the gaps that have been identified (Section 3.5). The Task
Force anticipates that given the scale of the task it will be necessary
for Ofcom to invite tenders for a range of studies (Section 4.2).
1.6 The scope of the research agenda should be wider than that given in
the consultation document.
It should also take into account the
development of taste and the extent to which people seek out new
types of genre and content (Section 5).
1.7 Finally, without wishing to pre-judge the results of the research
review, the Task Force identifies two areas requiring attention
(Section 6). First, it is important for Ofcom to identify appropriate
3
criteria and methods for assessing media literacy initiatives.
Secondly, in recognition of the strategic challenge in building
widespread support for, and acceptance of, media literacy, Ofcom
needs to identify the barriers to the wider development and
increased status of media literacy and propose ways of overcoming
them.
1.8 The Task Force summarises its recommendations and next steps
(Section 7).
1.9 There is an Annex: Summaries of Recent and On-Going Research on
p.9ff.
2.
Introduction
2.1 The Media Literacy Task Force membership is drawn from four
organisations: the UK Film Council, the British Film Institute, Channel
Four Television, and the BBC. This group came together in 2003 to
promote a broader and more positive version of media literacy than
that being publicly debated at the time.
2.2 Over 200 delegates drawn from the media industry, government,
education and other agencies attended an invitation seminar Inform
and Empower: Media Literacy in the 21st century, at BAFTA on 27
January 2004 organised by the Task Force. Delegates discussed and
commented on a wide range of issues relating to media literacy and
made a number of recommendations as to the way forward. These
points, together with summaries of the presentations and panels can
be found in the Seminar Report on the UK Film Council website
www.ukfilmcouncil.org.uk (see under ‘Downloads’ – Media Literacy
Conference).
2.3 The seminar organisers proposed the following statement as the
basis for discussion, and for which broad consensus was gained as a
result of the event:
4
“If the UK is to be a healthier, livelier and fairer society it needs
citizens who can play a full part in its economic, social, cultural
and political life. To ensure such participation, everyone now
needs to be literate not only in print media but in all forms of
electronic media. Acquiring these skills enables people to be
questioning and responsive as audiences, active democratic
participants, knowledgeable consumers, and, in some cases,
imaginative and adventurous practitioners too.
“Media literate people can:
 Understand how media content is produced and challenge
what offends them;
 Express themselves imaginatively and creatively through
new media;
 Gain access to, and make knowledgeable choices about, a
wide range of media forms and content;
 Understand how different media use words, images and
conventions to communicate.
“No single agency can take responsibility for media literacy.
Access to the knowledge, skills and understanding that
constitute it must be part of life-long learning. The task of
ensuring such access is widely available needs to be shared
across formal education, broadcasters, other media producers,
regulatory bodies and providers in the informal sector. It is
vital that stakeholders share a common vision for media literacy
and collaborate to put appropriate structures and resources in
place to deliver it.”
2.4 The Media Literacy Task Force, therefore, welcomes Ofcom’s
consultation initiative and in particular its aim “to add value to
existing media literacy activity” (para. 47).
It welcomes Ofcom’s
commitment to Connecting and Partnering but it also strongly
endorses para. 46 where Ofcom proposes “to undertake research to
5
inform and direct the two other main strands Connecting, Partnering
& Signposting and Labelling of audiovisual content.”
2.5 The Media Literacy Task Force regards research as a first and urgent
priority for Ofcom’s engagement with media literacy because it is
only on this basis that a shared definition of media literacy can be
achieved and following such research initiatives, effective public
policy be framed.
2.6 This response by the Media Literacy Task Force to the consultation
is, therefore, confined to the research aspects of the consultation
document at this stage. The responses that Ofcom also receives to
the Consultation from the individual member organisations of the
Media Literacy Task Force will comment, from their own perspective,
on issues relating to Signposting and Labelling.
2.7 In relation to the proposed research, however, and as implied by the
Inform and Empower Statement (Section 2.3), the Media Literacy Task
Force strongly suggest an understanding of media literacy that is
broader than that currently put forward by Ofcom. We recommend
that the four bullet points given in the Inform and Empower
Statement (Section 2.3) be taken as a starting-point, rather than the
definition offered in Ofcom’s consultation document, which we
regard as unnecessarily limited.
2.8 A literate person is not simply one who is able to read and
comprehend, but is one who also has the cultural capital to seek out,
make sense of, and to locate, their media experiences (socially,
historically, geographically, politically, etc.).
2.9 Indeed, the extent to which people actively seek out new types of
genre and content, and the impact of provision on their ability to do
so, is a matter of great interest to content providers and those with a
responsibility for promoting audio-visual culture in the UK.
For
example, content diversity often finds expression in debates about
public service broadcasting, and in the strategies of bodies such as
6
the UK Film Council and the British Film Institute. This further points
to the need to broaden the definition of Media Literacy.
2.10 In sum, the Task Force believes that a truly media literate person will
not only be able to ‘exercise greater choice’ and ‘better protect
themselves and their families’, but be skilled confidently to
participate in a creative and empowering way in the global multimedia environment of 21st century communications.
3.
Reviewing existing Media Literacy Research
3.1 The Task Force agrees with Ofcom that the establishment of
evidence about the prevalence of media literacy in all sections of
society is a research priority (para. 37). This is a substantial task,
which would far exceed the budget that we understand Ofcom has
designated in the short and medium term for research on media
literacy. There is, however, a growing sector of related research in
the academic community, some of which is now specifically directed
towards
media
literacy,
since
the
passing
of
the
2003
Communications Act.
3.2 There is, therefore, an urgent need for Ofcom to commission a
review of current research in the field. This would update the review
of the academic literature on this topic conducted for the BSC, ITC
and NIACE, Assessing the Media Literacy of Adults (March 2003). It
would invite dialogue with the research community and also institute
a wider survey of Doctoral and other research currently underway.
Added to this should be a review of the research literature on
children and media, drawing particularly on the work of the Centre
for Children, Youth and Media at the Institute of Education,
University of London. A summary of some of the current research is
provided as an Annex to this response (p.11ff).
3.3 This review should be more than a collection of data.
Current
research activity should be assessed against a working definition of
media literacy, taking into account the points made above in Section
7
2.7-2.10.
The
existing Ofcom definition excludes essential
qualitative and explanatory elements, which can be seen to be key
features of much existing audience research, and which the Task
Force regards as necessary for a full picture of how people relate to
the media.
3.4 The
research
review
will
need
to
be
based
upon
a
more
operationalised working definition, derived from the bullet points in
the Inform and Empower Statement, but indicating a wider range of
the aptitudes and skills that could characterise a media literate
person.
3.5 This initial review will identify the extent to which current and recent
research is addressing the skills, knowledge and understanding that
constitute media literacy, as described in the working definition.
Ofcom should then, in consultation with stakeholders (including the
research community), draw up a brief for research which will address
the gaps
thus identified, and will further refine the working
definition.
4.
Commissioning Research on Media Literacy
4.1 Ofcom’s budgetary allocation for media literacy research would seem
to preclude the possibility of commissioning research that could
address all the main demographic categories of age, gender,
ethnicity and cultural background, disability, income and educational
attainment (socio-economic status), as well as other variables such
as urban/rural and national/regional location.
We also anticipate
that the gaps in existing research will be extremely large, and that
the agreed research brief must prioritise some areas over others.
This prioritisation will be politically sensitive, but should not result in
some media forms being privileged over others.
4.2 It is our view that it should be Ofcom’s role to lever research funding
from other sources, in partnership with the leading institutions
already active in the field.
Rather than commissioning a single
8
study, a more effective initial strategy could be to invite tenders for a
range of studies, each of which could address one or more of a
number of research questions. The Task Force would be well placed
to discuss further with Ofcom a range of more specific topics which
it would consider a priority for such research.
4.3 This research will be an important new step towards achieving a
wider consensus about the core aptitudes and skills at the heart of
media literacy that is credible both to the media industries and to
educators.
It will provide key components of the evidence base
required to “identify the issues, to direct [Ofcom's] work and inform
progress towards achieving [Ofcom's] goals” (para. 33), and will offer
a much-needed benchmark for other institutions and agencies
involved in media literacy, even if only as a starting-point for debate
and a catalyst for further research.
5.
Scope of the Research
5.1 The Task Force recognises that Ofcom's legal obligations and powers
contained in the Communications Act apply only to electronic
communications broadcast and distributed over networks. However,
research into media literacy should not be limited in this way if it is
to be truly fit for purpose.
5.2 Such clear demarcation will prove almost impossible to realise in
practice given the highly interconnected nature of people's media
experiences.
For example, how an individual interprets broadcast
news will inevitably be influenced by their understanding of current
affairs
drawn
from
other
media
(e.g.
newspapers,
feature
documentaries etc.). From a research perspective in assessing, for
example, levels of media literacy, it will therefore be very hard to
exclude media experiences that fall outside Ofcom's remit under the
Act.
5.3 While in general it may be appropriate to limit the scope of Ofcom's
interventions in media literacy (direct or otherwise) to that contained
9
in the Act, the research agenda that informs Ofcom's approach needs
to be much broader, more inclusive and flexible if it is to win
consensus across other sectors, particularly education.
5.4 Paragraph 39 outlines Ofcom's intention to consider 'people's
attitudes and expectations when viewing and listening to materials'.
The Task Force agrees this is an important area for future research.
We note, however, that the value of this line of enquiry lies beyond
the rather narrow focus on 'harm and offence' described in the
consultation document.
5.5 Personal taste has an important influence on what people consider to
be offensive.
It is therefore highly important that the research
programme takes into account the development of taste and the
distinctions people draw between different media forms and genres,
and types of content.
5.6 The development of taste for diverse media genres and content
should also be a factor in the research agenda.
6.
Further Research Topics
6.1 The Task Force recognises that Ofcom will need a research agenda
that maps out areas beyond what it can initially commission. While it
is inevitable that the first phase of Ofcom’s research will throw up
other gaps in our knowledge and understanding of this field, we can
identify two areas at this stage that will inevitably need further
investigation.
6.2 We note that the consultation document makes no reference to
measuring the success or otherwise of media literacy initiatives. In
contrast there are a number of references to research examining
barriers to greater media literacy (e.g. paragraphs 38 and 44). We
suggest these two areas (aids and barriers) should be the subject of
complementary strands of research.
10
6.3 First, there are a number of initiatives already which aim to develop
media literacy, in a range of different contexts (formal education,
production projects and workshops, websites, contextualised film
exhibition, etc,) but there are no commonly agreed criteria for
evaluating the outcomes of media literacy initiatives.
An essential
next stage after achieving consensus about the aptitudes and skills
that constitute media literacy, will be to identify appropriate criteria
and methods for assessment.
6.4 Secondly, Identifying the barriers to the wider development and
increased status of media literacy and proposing ways of overcoming
them is a major research endeavour, but an important one, ranging
across attitudinal, management and economic studies, and possibly
some international comparisons.
6.5 The Task Force believes that both the areas of research outlined in
6.3 and 6.4 are ones on which Ofcom and the Task Force should
work together. It believes that the multi-media/cross-media nature
of the Task Force’s composition can bring unique strengths to such
discussions.
7.
Recommendations and Next Steps
7.1 Our recommendations in this response can be summarised as
follows. We propose that Ofcom should work with stakeholders to:

Develop a working definition of media literacy;

Commission a review of current research in the field;

Draw up a brief for research;

Invite tenders for a range of studies.
and plan for further research which should include:

Identifying appropriate criteria and methods for assessing media
literacy;
11

Identifying the barriers to the wider development and increased
status of media literacy and proposing ways of overcoming them.
7.2 The Media Literacy Task Force, representing as it does a number of
major stakeholders, is well placed to discuss further with Ofcom the
issues raised in this response and to explore ways in which it can
contribute to their realisation.
12
ANNEX: Summaries of Recent and On-Going Research
1.
General
1.1
EMTEL Network http://www.emtel2.org/
A network of European Universities (including LSE) investigating the
social aspects of the media technology in Europe
1.2
Audience research journal www.participations.org
1.3
ESRC funded research www.regard.ac.uk
2.
Qualitative and Quantitative Research in Television Audiences and
Popular Factual Entertainment
Annette Hill, University of Westminster
02 October 2000 – 31 March 2002

Results provide information and analysis for understanding the
transitional terrain of factual entertainment as a genre and
audience responses to a variety of hybrid formats; address 3
areas: genre, audiences and social context

Audiences found to be evaluators of factual entertainment
genre; aware of fact/fiction continuum and apply factuality to
popular factual programmes on a sliding scale. Analysis
indicated audiences have contradictory responses to information
in factual entertainment and have developed viewing strategies
to assess the improvised performance of ‘real’ people in factual
entertainment by looking for ‘moments of authenticity’ when
the performance breaks down and people are ‘true’ to
themselves.

In terms of policy, this research suggests that the debate about
factual entertainment should take into account audience
evaluation of the epistemological claims of factual television.
Editorial policymakers should be aware of viewers’ changing
responses to popular factual programming, and in particular
should monitor audience awareness of a fact/fiction continuum
within factual television as a whole. Within broadcasting,
13
programme makers should take steps to regain audience trust
in the ‘actuality’ of factual entertainment, and apply regular
monitoring of the ethical treatment of non-professional actors
in hybrid formats.
3.
2003 - 2005
http://imm-live-ics.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-252
Research Director of a two-year project on the viewing experience
of news and current affairs, documentary and popular factual
television
Funding – small grant from ESRC, ITC and Channel 4.
4.
Audience Receptions of TV News, Current Affairs and Documentary
Programmes
G Philo, University of Glasgow
01 April 2002 – 31 March 2004

Brings together academics and broadcasters to study key factors
in audience comprehension and interest

1st phase: content of programming, specifically
historical/scientific programmes, foreign news coverage &
domestic political/economic news

2nd phase: journalists and academic researchers will work with
selected small audience groups; group members will engage in
exercises such as writing own news items and watching actual
examples of news and other input

The intention is to find ways in which news programming could
be re-designed to improve audience understanding and to show
how changes in comprehension might affect levels of interest in
particular areas of media content.

Outcome: Greg Philo & Mike Berry, Bad News from Israel 2004
Pluto Books
5.
Images of Elders in UK Media Advertisements: Perceptions and
Representations
A Williams; V Yianne-McEwan, University of Cardiff – School of
English, Communications & Philosophy
14
01 June 2004 – 31 May 2007

Focus on print-media magazine & TV adverts featuring older
people (65+)

Aim to generate a comprehensive summary of current portrayals
of older people in these media and extend the research to find
out how consumers of these images ‘read’ them

1st phase of research: How are older people typically portrayed
in current (e.g. last 5 yrs) magazine and TV advertisements? Do
these portrayals align with or vary from theory and research on
ageism and age stereotypes? Can we generate a detailed
descriptive typology to summarise these images and one that
applies to both print-media and TV advertising?

2nd phase of research: How do adult viewers of such
advertisements characterise, summarise and evaluate the
images? What would a descriptive typology generated from
consumers of advertisements look like? Would it validate our
media analysis findings? Will viewers’ perceptions vary according
to their age?

3rd phase of research: What role do these advertisements play in
understanding the social world? How do people of different ages
evaluate and talk about the images? How do the discourses of
both the advertisements themselves and adult viewers
contribute to our understanding of ageing and ageism in
contemporary society?
6.
Adult Learning @ Home: Lifelong Learning And The ICT Revolution
John Furlong; S Gorard; N C Selwyn, University of Cardiff
http://cf.ac.uk/socsi/ict
01 January 2002 – 31 March 2004

Examines adults’ use (and non-use) of information and
communications technologies (ICT) in domestic and community
settings and explore the impact of new technologies on
individuals’ participation in formal and informal teaching.

Innovative blend of large-scale quantitative and in-depth
qualitative research techniques
15

Household survey of 1100 adults will provide a comprehensive
picture of patterns of access to both technology and learning;
from this 100 in-depth interviews with a stratified sample of
‘high’ and ‘low’ ICT using adults
7.
Internet Dialogues and Global Conflict: New Medium, New Politics,
New Methodologies
A Sreberny, P M Saukko, SOAS, Centre for Mass Communication
Research
05 January 2004 – 04 January 2005

Intends to explore how the Net fosters and sustains crosscultural political dialogue in an entrenched global situation;

Examines Internet newsgroup and listserv discussions on the
different ‘wars’ fuelled by 9/11 – 5 Internet discussions have
been selected: Middle East, Cultural Studies, transnational
politics, egroupings of women activists, and egroupings of
British Muslims;

1st aim: to develop a methodology able to do justice to the Net’s
unique ability to bring together not only different views but also
multiple forms and levels of communication that could have
wider applicability in social research; to use this methodology to
explore the specific features of an interactive, new, global
medium, the Net, that enable it to foster new modes of political
dialogue in a situation of prolonged international hostility; to
explore how the so-called ‘civilizational’ divides might be
bridge by more ‘civil’ politics;

2nd aim: explore notions of multiple selves and dialogues
between them; empirical evidence from proposed research will
refine ways of conceptualising dialogue that take into account
its intrapersonal, interpersonal and public aspects and the ways
in which these complicate simple divisions and affinities, such
as East/West or the ‘inside/outside’;

3rd aim: based on analysis of Internet discussions, want to
contribute to a more complex theoretical and empirical
understanding of contemporary political identities and debates
16
that can help us imagine amore nuanced, more dialogical and
less violent political strategies.
8.
Virtually Second-Hand: Internet Auction Sites As Spaces Of
Knowledge Performance
R Mellis; A J Haywood, University of Essex
01 February 2004 – 31 January 2006

Case study of eBay, world’s largest personal online trading
company – largely unexplored by academic community in terms
of key issues it raises around knowledge, identity, community
and collecting practices in e-society

Most important general aim of this project is to provide useful
data and analysis for a wide variety of non-academic users from
the commercial to the policy community, which will contribute
to the economic competitiveness of the UK

Policy community – government and voluntary organisations –
insight on consumer issues which may need new legislation or
guidelines in an Internet era, possibilities of auction sites to
provide self-employment
9.
The Launch and Reception of The Lord Of The Rings III: The Role Of
Film Fantasy
M J Barker, E J Mathis, J M Jones, University of Aberystwyth
01 November 2003 – 31 August 2004

Impact of global media on local cultures

Will explore in detail the ways LoTR is received by a range of British
audiences

What is the meaning of this vast story of Middle Earth, and its
moral tale of the war between good and evil, to different kinds of
viewers? What connections do they make between the events,
characters and settings of the film, and their own lives and world?
What sorts of pleasure – or indeed dissatisfactions – are taken from
the film?

Will look at how the publicity frames it for potential audiences and
what kind of expectations and promises accompany it as it
approaches release
17

Use of questionnaires and sample of follow-up interviews

Examining in particular how different audiences draw on and
respond to various parts of the publicity and discussion about the
film; what sort of ‘fantasy’ they feel the film offered them; and how
they relate to this to any other parts of their lives, or of the world
they inhabit

10.
Research in Britain paralleled in number of other countries
Assessing the Media Literacy of UK Adults
Sonia Livingstone, Nancy Thumin, BSC, ITC, NIACE
March 2003

Identified little empirical research on adult media literacy funded
and conducted in the UK

Definitions of media literacy abound, though consensus is less
forthcoming – here reviews it in terms of (1) technical
competencies; (2) critical reception practices; (3) content
production

Little consensus on how to measure media literacy, making it
difficult to assess the level and the spread of skills

Assessing the needs of adults for media literacy education just
as crucial as for children, especially as increasing responsibility
for accessing content is being devolved to the public

Adult media literacy found to be uneven across the population
and unevenly exercised across different media and media
genres. In some respects, the public is indeed media-savvy, in
other respects, levels of literacy are lower. Generalisations
across media are difficult in this fast-changing media and
information environment.

Clearly, a well-defined vision – of the key dimensions of
consumers’ skills and abilities, of the minimum and desired
levels of literacy required, of the population sectors which risk
being left out, of the most appropriate means of both promoting
and evaluating media literacy – must be debated and agreed if
media literacy are to reach satisfactory levels across the whole
population.
18
11.
The Changing Nature and Uses of Media Literacy
Sonia Livingstone, Media@LSE Electronic
Working Paper 2003

3 central questions facing public policy-makers and academy:
What is media literacy? How is it changing? And what are the
uses of literacy?;

Definition of media literacy here: the ability to access, analyse,
evaluate and create messages across a variety of contexts – this
four-component model is examined in this paper for its
applicability to the internet;

Raises issues of interface design and technology changes
relating to media literacy, and institutional interests at stake in
promoting media literacy;

In conclusion, it is argued that literacy concerns the historically
and culturally conditioned relationship among three processes:
(i) the symbolic and material representation of knowledge,
culture and values; (ii) the diffusion of interpretative skills and
abilities across a (stratified) population; and (iii) the
institutional, especially, the state management of the power that
access to and skilled use of knowledge brings to those who are
‘literate’;

Debates over literacy are, in short, debates about the manner
and purposes of public participation in society. Without a
democratic and critical approach to media literacy, the public
will be positioned merely as selective receivers, consumers of
online information and communication. The promise of media
literacy, surely, is that it can form part of a strategy to
reposition the media user – from passive to active, from
recipient to participant, from consumer to citizen.
12.
Media Literacy for Adults (seminar)
Voice of the Listener and Viewer
20 October 2003

TV, radio & other content are now being delivered via the
internet and mobile phone. What implications does this have for
viewers and listeners? What new tools and critical skills will they
19
need to acquire if they are to navigate with confidence on the
plethora of programmes and ancillary services now on offer?

Brings together distinguished academics and those involved in
regulating the media – incl Naomi Sargant, Nancy Thumin, Sylvia
Harvey, Robin Blake, Stephen Heppell;

13.
Report available.
Media@LSE Research students
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/whosWho/researchStu
dentsFullDetails.htm#Gavin%20Adams
13.1 Ellen Helsper
Social status and internet use: anonymity or identity confirmation
My current interests involve the new media and their use in
everyday life. My PhD research project intends to study the effects
of changes in context on self-perception and status and on the
evaluation and use of internet.
mailto:E.J.Helsper@lse.ac.uk
PhD supervisor – Sonia Livingstone
13.2 Anita Howarth
Media coverage of issues surrounding genetically modified
organisms and their impact on public policy
My research interests include media and public policy, media and
environmental issues/science, media regulation as well as the
impact of the internet and alternative media on print media.
mailto:a.i.howarth@lse.ac.uk
PhD supervisors – Roger Silverstone, Darrin Hodgetts
13.3 Matthew Lyndon-Jones
Spaces for interactivity and creativity within the New Media
Landscape: the possibilities for constructing, mediating and
challenging individual and collective political expression on the
Internet
My research interests include negotiating independence and
autonomy within oligopolistic power structures in creative and
20
political sectors; contesting organisational identity in traditional
and new media environments; and methods of innovation for
content producers.
mailto:m.l.jones1@lse.ac.uk
PhD supervisor – Robin Mansell
13.4 Joelle Kivits
Health information on the Internet. The significance of the Internet
in the individual management of health.
My research project is 'Health information on the Internet', an
analysis of the way people use the Internet in health care.
mailto:j.m.kivits@lse.ac.uk
PhD supervisor – Roger Silverstone

Kivits, J. (forthcoming, 2004) 'Online Interviewing and the Research
Relationship', in C. Hine (ed.) Virtual Methods: Issues in Social
Research on the Internet. Berg.

Kivits, J. (forthcoming, 2004) 'Researching the 'Informed Patient':
The Case of Online Health Information Seekers'. Information,
Communication & Society (special issue on e-health).
13.5 Wainer Lusoli
Internet and Political Participation
My current research interests include: Citizen participation on the
Internet in the UK and US; Trade Unions and ICTs; political parties
and online campaigns; participation theories, and empirical
democratic theory; and internet research methods.
mailto:w.lusoli@lse.ac.uk
Publications include:

Gibson, R., Lusoli W. & Ward, S. J. (2004) Difficult Democracy:
Political Organisations, Participation and the Internet. Manchester:
Manchester University Press. [Forthcoming]

Ward, S. J., Gibson, R. K. & Lusoli, W. (2003). Online Participation
and Mobilisation in the UK: Hype, Hope and Reality. Parliamentary
Affairs, 56 (3), [Forthcoming]
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
Ward, S. J., Lusoli, W., & Gibson, R. K. (2003). Virtually Participating:
A Survey of Online Party Members. Information Polity, 7(4),
Forthcoming.

Ward, S. J., & Lusoli, W. (2003). Dinosaurs in cyberspace? British
Trade Unions and the Internet. European Journal of
Communication, 18(2), 147-179.

Gibson, R. K., Ward, S. J., & Lusoli, W. (2003). The Internet and
Political Campaigning: the new medium comes of age?
Representation, 39(3), 166-180.

Lusoli, W., Gibson, R. K., & Ward, S. J. (2002). Digital engagements:
online participation in the UK and US. Paper presented at the
EURICOM Colloquium, 9-12 October 2002, Nijmegen, The
Netherlands.
13.6 Martin Moloney
Consumer Citizenship: The Impact of Consumer Activism On
Corporate Discourse And Practice
My research interests include the relationship between discourse
and social practice; consumer culture; critical theory, particularly
the Frankfurt School; global inequalities.
mailto:m.moloney@lse.ac.uk
PhD supervisor – Maggie Scammell
13.7 Philippe Ross
Designers' Experience and Expertise: Investigating User-Related
Knowledge in New Media Design
My research interests include science, Technology and Society
(STS); emerging forms of 'expertise' in new media design;
involvement of 'concerned groups' in science and technology; new
media and education.
mailto:p.ross@lse.ac.uk
PhD supervisor – Robin Mansell
13.8 Suzanne Kay Stein
Theorizing the Not Yet Arrived: Anticipation of Interactive
Entertainment Technologies
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The research is concerned broadly with technology, art and
everyday life and in particular, the emergence of a new media form,
narrative based interactive entertainment. Of central concern, is 1)
the discourse construction in the popular literature that envisions
the new forms and their social effects and 2) how this construction
has empirical expression in development contexts. By exploring
the process of production from ideation to audience reception and
the discourses created and circulated about these forms, I aim to
form a theory of understanding the social construction, dimensions
and significance of the 'not yet arrived'.
mailto:s.k.stein@lse.ac.uk
PhD supervisor – Roger Silverstone
13.9 Zoetanya Sujon
Technological Citizenship? Questioning New Media in the Cultural
Politics and Territories of Belonging
My current research interests include information and
communication technologies, new media, epistemology, science
and technology / knowledge studies, communities, globalization,
location-based and mobile technologies, space, urban tapestries
(http://www.proboscis.org.uk/urbantapestries/index.html ) civil
society, social justice and social movements.
My doctoral project aims to understand how information and
communication technologies (ICTs) are or can be related to
citizenship in the 21st century. Emerging narratives about
'technological citizenship' - an umbrella term for discourses about
e-citizenship, cyber citizenship, digital citizenship, netizenship and
cyborg citizenship - suggest that new media are facilitating the
transformation, extension and/or reconstitution not only of what it
means to be a citizen but also the spaces of civil society. My
doctoral work aims to understand these 'emergent' spaces and
processes, and poses the following research questions: 1) how are
new media related to changing territories of citizenship and 2) what
is the relationship between new media and the constitution of
particular subjects, namely the 'technological' or 'mediated' citizen.
mailto:z.t.sujon@lse.ac.uk
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PhD supervisors – Nick Couldry & Roger Silverstone
13.10 Vivi Theodoropoulou
The Diffusion And Adoption Of Digital Television Among The First
Generation Digital Audience In The UK' Provisional Thesis title.
The thesis focuses on the process of DTV adoption and
consumption by its early audiences in the UK. Theoretically it is
supported by the Sociology of Technology tradition and
Consumption and Audience theory. Empirically, it is based on both
qualitative and quantitative data; drawing on a UK wide survey
research I conducted with Sky digital subscribers and on in-depth
interviews with DTV consumers.
My current research interests evolve around the social dimensions
of new media with a particular focus on issues of access and use. I
am also concerned with technology and cultural forms'
consumption as a means of identity construction, thus my interest
in mediation, (changing) audiences and users in general, and
fandom, sports and niche audiences, in particular.
mailto:P.Theodoropoulou@lse.ac.uk
PhD supervisors – Roger Silverstone & Sonia Livingstone
13.11 Nancy Thumim
Mediation And Community Spaces: Television, Internet And
Museum Display In Contemporary Britain
I am interested in the construction of public spaces for individuals
and communities to represent themselves within contemporary
mediated societies. I want to explore what kinds of spaces it has
been possible to construct in different media forms, why, and for
whom. Further, I want to ask whether these spaces have a role to
play in widening civic representation and participation and what
might be the constraints on such a role.
mailto:n.thumim@lse.ac.uk
PhD supervisor – Sonia Livingstone
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13.12 Sebastian Ureta
The possession and use of ICT's in everyday life and the
transformation of social time in a context of modernization as in
the case of Chile.
My research interests focus on information and communication
technologies in everyday life, the use and meaning of time in
everyday spaces, as well as the social effects of modernization
processes in developing countries.
mailto:s.ureta-icaza@lse.ac.uk
PhD supervisor – Roger Silverstone
13.14 Elizabeth Van Couvering
The Internet In Everyday Life
Her research interests focus on Internet in everyday life; open
source development and its commercial impact; online marketing
and advertising.
mailto:e.j.van-couvering@lse.ac.uk
PhD supervisor – Roger Mansell
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